Smiles all round as Aberfoyle’s primary school and nursery are praised by inspectors

Aberfoyle’s primary school and nursery are both celebrating glowing reports from inspectors who heaped praise on the learning environment they have created for children.

Pupils and staff from Aberfoyle Primary School and Aberfoyle Nursery
Both Aberfoyle Primary School and Aberfoyle Nursery received very positive inspection reports

Inspectors from Education Scotland highlighted strengths in a number of areas across the school and nursery after visiting in December 2023 and speaking to staff, management and families.

The school was assessed against learning, teaching and assessment in addition to raising attainment and achievement, receiving evaluations of ‘good’ and ‘very good’ respectively.

Aberfoyle Nursery was jointly inspected by the Care Inspectorate who awarded them a 5 (‘Very Good’) for their standards of leadership as well as care, play and learning.

Education Scotland assessed the nursery against two quality indicators: learning, teaching and assessment, and securing children’s progress. Both were evaluated as ‘good’.

'Standards remain high'

Claire Gilchrist, Head Teacher at Aberfoyle Primary School said: “We are delighted to have received such a positive report that recognises the hard work and dedication of our staff team across both the school and nursery.

“Nurturing positive relationships with our children and their families is at the heart of everything we do, as is our commitment to ensuring pupils make very good progress in their learning and in developing a range of skills. We are therefore very pleased to have these acknowledged as areas of strength within the report.”

Children and Young People Convener Cllr Margaret Brisley said: “The reports received by Aberfoyle Primary School and Aberfoyle Nursery are highly encouraging and a fantastic endorsement of the work being done by the teaching staff and management across both settings.

“Standards in Stirling Council’s early learning and childcare settings remain high and the efforts made by our dedicated and hardworking staff are appreciated by children, their families and the communities that they serve.”

Additional aspects of service delivery across the primary school and nursery that were praised by inspectors were:

  • Positive relationships across the school and nursery which support children to be confident, articulate and engage in learning
  • Effective approaches developed by the headteacher to check how well children are making progress in the primary stages. This is helping to ensure children make progress in literacy and numeracy
  • A wide variety of opportunities provided for children to develop skills for learning, life and work

Each report can be viewed online on the Education Scotland website in addition to the Care Inspectorate website.